Spoiler :

It is so sad that it is took me so long to write this...hopefully once I pass this difficult point and get to the exciting bits I will be able to do a lot less badly in writing it...here is hoping anyway...

P.S. I apologize for all the problems my writing has, for this series especially and in particular.  I am hoping that eventually when I get better at it, one day I will go back and rewrite everything so it sounds and reads a lot better.

Contract Literacy

(Wilhelm Dragonsong)

The final part, sealing the deal, as I’ve said, was deceptively simple. All you had to do was basically state your names (titles if you had any) and that you understand and will abide by the contract.  

If you were smart you would plan ahead and create the contract in written form ahead of time. Otherwise you would have no choice but the contract to be a purely verbal one.

The problem with verbal contracts when they were done as a ceremony like this one, was that it was a lot easier to make a mistake, and if you don’t realize your mistake and correct it before the sealing you will have no choice but to live with it.

I have heard of this one master who got the meanings for the symbolic phrases of master and apprentice mixed up along with a few other mistakes, but that one was the worst of them all. Basically he had gone for the obedience to your master above all code of conduct.

Since his apprentice was as you might expect bad enough that obedience was seen as necessary, he ended up basically as a lifelong slave to the person he planned to make his chore boy and his every action was completely controlled by someone with much less magic power then himself.

On the opposite end of the spectrum I know of many cases where the potential apprentice was illiterate and wouldn’t even dare to think of even attempting to do a purely verbal contract. They just let their master prepare the paper without any input and then just naively sign it without further thought.

At least the master in the first example was a seasoned and experienced old man who quickly learned how to subterfuge some of the rules and eventually managed to arrange for his freedom. With those many gutless folk they rarely escape a life of servitude and usually misery.

Back in the days when contracts were more popular then schools, masters would just contract all their servants as “apprentices” to gain perfect slaves that would never disobey. Plus sometimes they were so deceived that they became fiercely loyal and protective towards their masters.

After all they were usually taken off the streets and were even being taught magic! Even if usually the little they were taught was something that even non mages could usually manage to learn on their own.

Vanessa was lucky in many ways not the least was her choice of master. Though I hate to admit it, especially when compared to those morons mentioned in the examples previously I am probably far from being considered below average even in my worst moments.

Part of the reason that an master apprenticeship relationship between a male and a female used to be considered the equivalent of a marriage especially when the female party was the apprentice, was that often the male would arrange into the contract, rules that would make martial relations a requirement. If the contract maker didn't add in escape clauses into the part of obedience like I did, then the clause of obedience could obviously be abused in a similar way even if there was no specified rule that the two must become lovers.

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She was also lucky in the fact that she had some knowledge of the formal tongue twisting ancient form of speaking. This I can only attribute to her grandparents. Though she seems to have spent more time with her grandfather, it is her grandmother who should probably get the most credit.

It was completely beaten into me from my days with her as my master that literacy is very important. Now that I have much more knowledge about the way of the world, I would have to agree her even more then I used to. Education, specifically literacy is a great power, and source of protection to its bearer.

For a long time in this country it was considered a senseless extravagance to learn to read especially if one was planning to go into a job where reading wasn’t required, like being a warrior. It got to the point that if one had an education you would become embarrassed about it and try to hide it.

Even the wealthy that easily had access to it sometimes would hire scribes to do their paperwork for them, and if you were of lower class in some areas it was impossible.

But partly because of my unintended popularity and fame that I gained while being an education teacher, and mostly because of other much more practical reasons, this started to change.

Nowadays most people of all social classes are encouraging their kids to at least get a basic schooling. However from what I have seen the prejudice and biases still linger in some places. Helping that way of thinking was the very traditional dojos.

So I wouldn’t have been surprised if Vanessa had been literate, but thanks to her grandmother not only she but her father and most of the older students were literate. Her being literate is very convenient and will save a lot of time as I don’t have to teach her such time consuming talks as writing and reading.

But don’t misunderstand there are ways around making a strong contract without having to do it verbally or lack understanding on what exactly one is agreeing to.

For example one can use an ink mark rather than a signature when signing a contract. However it isn’t usually as binding. In some cases after the signer starts using a signature or a different method of signing then the mark they used the contract can even become void.

If she was unable to make a signature I could have had her prick her finger and make a blood print. Contracting by blood is a lot more binding than a signature, and it has the advantage of being it is far less unpredictable then using a purely verbal contract. In magic when there is both a verbal and written agreement, the written almost always takes precedence.

As I have mentioned, before this ceremony took place I carefully explained every facet of the contract to her almost word by word. And one of the caveats that I almost always add to my contracts is that the contract is not viable unless the person not only says they understand but truly do at least mostly understand what he contract involves.

I took the precaution of quizzing her to make certain that she really understood, and right now I am taking the trouble to translate the contract/ceremony one more time for even more surety. Although I could use my ability with illusions to protect us from the embarrassment and dishonor of contract failure.

I would also have to forfeit having at least this many witnesses to the ceremony. And as a lot of the reason I was doing this contract in the first place was to use the witnesses’ power to help protect us from the magic as well as strengthen the contract itself.

Failure would greatly lesson the usefulness of having a ceremony in the first place. So with large amount of hopes and even prayers that it would succeed this first and only time.   I rolled out the scroll that contained the contract.